An American Airlines plane colliding with a military helicopter over the Potomac River this week left 67 people dead and the Washington area stunned.
The incident was the first commercial airline plane crash in the United States since 2009, when a Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane stalled and crashed in Buffalo, New York.
Here’s what to know about the incident and where it stands now.
What happened? How many died? How many bodies have been recovered?
An American Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 series plane looking to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a trip from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter in the middle of a training exercise Wednesday night over the Potomac River.
Both aircraft crashed into the river. First responders showed up immediately as the wreckage lay in the river with numerous fire boats headed to the scene. It became apparent that there were no survivors, and the rescue operation turned into a recovery operation as the night progressed.
Political figures from across the U.S. including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) mourned the incident.
Roughly 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the plane are all believed to be dead as well as the three military members aboard the helicopter. Among the passengers on the plane were several American, Russian, and other foreign national figure skaters who were on their way back from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
More than 40 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage with 28 positive identifications of the bodies, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly said during a Friday press conference. Donnelly said first responders searched a “large portion” of the Potomac River and that they think they know where the remaining bodies are but will not know until they are finished. He said he thinks removing the aircraft will help find the remaining bodies.
Donnelly would not give a timeline on when the recovery operation could be finished, but he expects all of the bodies to be recovered.
The Black Hawk helicopter crew members originated from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and were part of Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion.
What changed as a result of the incident?
Reagan National Airport was closed until 11 a.m. the day after the crash and flights were redirected away from the airport. No flights left or arrived at the airport until that time.
Several flights were also delayed or canceled as a result of the crash. Airport manager Terry Liercke said two of the airport’s three runways were closed as of Friday, and about 100 flights have been canceled.
Liercke said the runways have been closed because allowing aircraft to take off or land over the recovery site would be “impactful to the operation.”
The expectation is that the runways will be closed for a week, but authorities will reassess Monday, Liercke said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth grounded the Army battalion involved in the crash for 48 hours following the incident.
The flight path of the military helicopter, named “Route 4,” has been altered to exclude the route’s path “between the bridges” as well as the “Route 1” path. Both paths are low-altitude.
What are the causes?
The cause of the collision is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said Thursday that the agency would “conduct a thorough investigation of this entire tragedy, looking at the facts.”
The NTSB is still collecting evidence at the crash site and has recovered the two black boxes from the American Airlines plane. They contain vital information such as the audio from within the cockpit and the aircraft’s altitude, air speed, and other critical information. The NTSB has sent them to a lab and is still searching for the helicopter’s black box.
A preliminary report from the NTSB is expected to be released within 30 days.
Trump said he suspects the military helicopter pilots are at fault, and that the helicopter was “flying too high, by a lot.”
“It was far above the 200-foot limit,” he said Friday in a Truth Social post. “That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”
He also suggested that diversity, equity, and inclusion could have played a role.
“We have to have our smartest people” as air traffic controllers, Trump said Thursday morning. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. … They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses. Can’t have regular people doing their job. We can’t have regular people doing this job. They won’t be able to do it, but we’ll restore faith in American air travel.”
What is the controversy about Reagan National Airport?
The airport has dealt with several problems in the past few years, including the crowded airspace around Washington, its status as a busy but smaller airport, small runways, and questions about its viability.
The “unique” approach pilots have to take to runway 15/33 could have contributed to the crash, given that it takes pilots within a few hundred feet of the helicopter route at 200 feet during landing. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials claim the airport is “routinely” rated as among the country’s most challenging for pilots during takeoffs and landings.
The airport has had several close calls with near collisions on the runways in recent years, prompting concern about the flight load for the small runways. Wednesday’s collision happened over the Potomac River rather than on a runway at the airport.
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Lierecke denied any problems in the Friday press conference, saying “United States airspace is the safest in the world. … Safety is one of our top priorities, and we continue to ensure that the airport is safe.”
He refused to answer whether the airport has raised concerns about the congested airspace to the Federal Aviation Administration, instead relaying that the airport complies with the FAA’s safety regulations.
